Automated payments at all-time high as Bacs breaks six billion barrier

20-Jan-2016

2015 was yet another record
breaking year for Bacs Payment Schemes Limited (Bacs). The company behind
Direct Debit in the UK
shattered previous highs for payments passing through its system, processing
more than six billion transactions throughout the year.

On one day alone, in July,
Bacs processed a massive 103 million Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits –
that’s 6.7 million every hour the system was open, or 111,000 transactions each
minute.

And the year brought huge
growth in the use of Direct Debits; the number of payments made this way rose
by 239 million, surpassing the last record of 161 million set in 2004 by some
way. In percentage terms, that’s an increase of 6.6%.

2015 was also the first full
year that the Driving and Vehicle Licensing Agency offered Direct Debit as a
payment option, and 10.8 million of the UK’s road-users opted to pay for
their Vehicle Excise Duty that way.

And that attitude towards
the payment method is reflected more widely, too - in 2015, the proportion of
people who felt positively towards Direct Debit stood at 85%, with two thirds
(66%) saying they prefer to pay most of their bills by Direct Debit. Almost nine in ten adults (89%) had at least
one Direct Debit commitment, with 73% of all household bills paid this way, up
from 71% in 2014.

Michael Chambers, chief
executive officer, Bacs, said:

“Despite having been around
for almost half a century, Direct Debit continues to be the payment method of
choice for UK
businesses and consumers alike, and is leading the way in automated payments by
a considerable margin. Against a backdrop of innovation and new payment
options, we processed more Direct Debits and Bacs Direct Credits than in any
other year, and broke our own records for the number of transactions processed
in just one day more than once last year.”

As well as its core payment
methods, Bacs also owns and runs the Current Account Switch Service, which was
developed to remove barriers to switching for consumers, small businesses, and
small charities. With 43 participants covering almost 100% of the UK current
account market, the service has been used for more than 2.5 million switches
since it launched at the end of 2013, and is currently being promoted through
an extensive advertising, PR and social media campaign.

Bacs is also responsible for
the Cash ISA Transfer Service, Biller Update Service, and the Extended Industry
Sort Code Directory, as well as the new Bulk Redirection Service which is used
by banks, government departments, and large corporates for moving substantial
numbers of accounts and regular payments between banking providers.